


beautiful

by DismantledSun



Series: Clem Blurbs [4]
Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-03
Updated: 2016-06-03
Packaged: 2018-07-11 23:10:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7074580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DismantledSun/pseuds/DismantledSun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"You're such a child," Luke said, laughing as he shoved Michael away. Luke reached up to tear down the poster, folding it carefully before tucking it in his back pocket.</p>
<p>"That's why the carnival is the perfect place to go!" Michael said, arms moving about him as if seized by excitement.</p>
            </blockquote>





	beautiful

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by the prompt "clem at the carnival ?" from [Reyann](http://archiveofourown.org/users/pilotmikey/pseuds/pilotmikey)

"Luke, can we please?" Michael asked, eyes not yet torn from the poster hung on the streetlight. People bustled by on the sidewalk, shoving into his back, but Michael didn't much care. He was more interested in the colorful words and drawings printed on the poster.

"Michael," Luke said, voice trailing with uncertainty. Michael could feel Luke's gaze but didn't look at him just yet. He just shuffled closer to the poster to get out of the way of everyone pushing past.

"Please, Luke?" Michael finally turned around, a small pout on his face to appeal to Luke's more caring side. That is, if he had one. Luke rolled his eyes, causing Michael to smirk. He already knew he won.

"Fine! Fine!"

"Fuck yes!"

"You're such a child," Luke said, laughing as he shoved Michael away. Luke reached up to tear down the poster, folding it carefully before tucking it in his back pocket.

"That's why the carnival is the perfect place to go!" Michael said, arms moving about him as if seized by excitement. He started tugging Luke down the street in the direction of where the carnival was being held. "C'mon, it shouldn't be too long of a walk."

"Now?" Luke practically shouted, but Michael couldn't be arsed to care. Luke walked in step with Michael anyway, swinging their hands between them. "Like a big, lovable child."

"As if small children like yourself aren't lovable."

"Excuse me, I am neither small nor a child."

"Mmhm, we'll see."

Once they reached the carnival, Michael bought them both tickets in before excitedly shuffling towards the nearest ride. They helped put on each other's wristbands before lining up for the ride.

As it turned out, they were both children but hardly small, as a lot of the rides had not only a height minimum but a height maximum as well. Michael was tired of seeing signs saying, 'This ride is ideal for people 1 to 1.7 meters tall. Anyone taller than that should be accompanying someone who fits this height restriction.'

"We could cleverly borrow a child," Luke suggested, frowning down at another height requirement sign. "They get to go on all the cool rides their parents won't let them onto, we get to go on all the cool rides the park won't let _us_ onto, it'll be perfect."

"That's called kidnapping, Luke."

"No, it's called babysitting without monetary compensation."

"Those are big words coming from a small one like yourself."

"Fuck off. I'm clearly too big for this ride," Luke said, frowning at Michael, who started laughing loudly at Luke's unintentional innuendo. "Oh, fuck off."

"Shh, Luke, there are children nearby," Michael whispered, laugh hardly quelled. He poked at Luke's side. "Keep your swearing and _recreational activities_ to yourself. Let's go find something else, like cotton candy or the ring toss or the house of mirrors or–"

"Oh hush, we can do everything," Luke said, a soft smile on his face. Michael's face lit up. "Well, come on then."

Michael decided on the house of mirrors first, leading a begrudgingly accepting Luke up the stairs and into the poorly lit hallways. Each mirror was curved differently, distorting their images as they looked into them or confusing them so they didn't know where to go.

"Look, now you're certainly tiny," Michael laughed, pointing to where Luke was half his height in the mirror. He looked utterly ridiculous with his head not shrunken at all. "It perfectly captures your ego."

"You're not faring much better, you asshole," Luke said, looking down to Michael's reflection, which appeared to have no spine at his hips and grew twice as wide everywhere else.

They continued through, peering into all the mirrors as they were stretched and squished every which way, distorted until it was hard to tell who was who when they shared. Michael laughed at how Luke looked just as much as how much he was laughed at.

It was a lot of fun until they reached hallways and rooms lined with endless mirrors. Michael saw Luke in every one of them but he couldn't find him at his side.

"Hey Luke, where did you go?" Michael asked tentatively, spinning around.

"Right here," Luke replied, a smile in his voice. Michael was hardly excited for whatever would come next.

"Right where–" Michael jumped, feeling Luke's fingers dig into his sides. "Oh, you ass!"

"Think of all the children whose minds you've tainted," Luke laughed, pulling Michael into a hug. He ran his hands over Michael's back while Michael just pouted, unmoving. "I'm sorry, I hope you still love me."

"Even when I hate you I love you," Michael said, frowning as he pressed his face into Luke's neck and slowly pulled his arms around Luke's waist.

"Success."

"Asshole," Michael whispered.

"I'm sorry! Let's go get cotton candy."

"Yes!" Michael said, following Luke out of the house of mirrors and towards a brightly lit up concession stand.

The neon lights left pink and yellow halos against the black of the sky, reflecting against any remotely shiny surface along with every other stand and ride. The entire carnival was painted like a rainbow, a bright, blinding rainbow.

Luke bought them cotton candy – pink and blue because "blue tastes better but the pink matches your hair" – before steering them towards a park bench where they picked at both colors of their cotton candy and watched everyone race around the crowded carnival.

It was beautiful watching the lights and bright eyes, hearing popcorn machines and laughter and shrieks. It was beautiful seeing the way the neon and small string lights created abstract colors in Luke's eyes and across his face. Luke was beautiful.

Even when Luke was making fun of him, he was still a tiny bit beautiful. Maybe. Probably. It wasn't Michael's fault. It really wasn't. He was just awful at the ring toss. Never mind the fact that he chose to do the ring toss or that he was too stubborn to stop until he won. No. It wasn't his fault.

"Fuck," Michael whispered as another ring bounced off the tops of the bottles. He had three tries to get one around the neck of a bottle, and twelve rings and way too much money later, Michael reaped no rewards.

"Michael, the children!" Luke whispered, before leaning back and crossing his arms over his chest, laughing slightly at how spectacularly Michael was failing. Maybe instead of trying to throw rings around bottles, Michael would just throw them at Luke until he shut up.

"I just wanted to win a teddy bear for my boyfriend!" Michael shouted at the sky, letting out an exasperated series of noises before carelessly tossing his last ring at the bottles. After a number of light sounds, Michael turned to see the ring finally around the neck of a bottle. Of course. "I finally did it."

"I'm assuming you want the teddy bear," the worker said with a smile, already grabbing the bear from the row of others.

"Yes, thank you," Michael said, taking the bear in his arms before turning towards Luke. "And this is for you."

"Thank you, Mikey," Luke said, smile soft, reaching out to hug Michael than take the bear. It felt weird, the stuffed bear squished between their chests as they hugged, but Michael couldn't be happier.

"Where to next?" Michael asked, looking fondly as Luke pulled the bear tightly to his chest. "Since I spent so long here."

Luke spun around in a circle, taking in everything that the carnival had to offer, finally stopping when he saw the photo booth. "Let's go there."

"Alright," Michael said, catching Luke's hand before walking over to the photo booth. He pulled over the red velvet curtain, letting Luke slide in first before he followed.

After paying, Michael saw that they had four pictures to take, and decided to make the most of it. So of course for the first one he took the bear and covered up Luke's face, which meant Luke wasted their second photo to exact his revenge. By the third one, they knew they didn't have traditionally cute photos, so they pulled ridiculous faces. Luke puffed up his cheeks and made his eyes really wide, while Michael brought his chin towards his chest and pushed his lips out. Once they reached the fourth one, they were out of ideas so right before the photo went off, Michael grabbed Luke's cheeks and kissed him, surprising him so much that he didn't start kissing back until the flash had already gone off.

When they left the photo booth, they went near the lights to look at them, the first three all varying degrees of ridiculous, while the last one was actually quite cute. Michael would never admit to it being his favorite. Nope. He wouldn't keep it forever or frame it or anything.

They stood under the light for a moment, the photos tucked safely away, spinning around once more to see what else at the carnival they wanted to experience.

"Luke."

"Michael?"

"We have to go on the carousel."

"We're definitely too big for that one," Luke said with a laugh, slowly walking towards where soft music was playing. Lights flashed around the top, spinning in a circle with the carousel.

"Fuck them, we're riding the carousel."

"Alright, let's give it a try," Luke said, queueing up behind some parent and his two children.

Once they reached the front of the line, the carousel attendant just gave them a once over before accepting their money and waving them towards the carousel. Michael most certainly did not do a happy dance as he walked towards it.

Michael circled the carousel, opting for the unicorn, much to the chagrin of the many young girls and boys behind them in line, while Luke took the giraffe next to him. With the giraffe's head even taller than Luke's, Michael didn't have to worry about Luke being maimed or decapitated by being too tall. Or himself. Michael found his ulterior motives to be quite clever.

Every time their respective animals rose and fell, Michael would laugh when his was higher and call Luke out on his being taller for once. Luke would always almost shove him off the unicorn before wrapping his hands around Michael's arm to steady him. They really were like children. Ridiculous children who teased each other endlessly over some silly crush.

When the carousel finally slowed to a stop, Michael linked his elbow with Luke's and skipped away, dragging Luke behind him. Eventually Luke joined along and they both skipped down the pathway and away from the crowds.

"Michael," Luke said, sounding very serious as he stopped skipping suddenly. "There's a bounce house."

"If we've been struggling being accepted onto normal rides, there is no way in hell we're allowed on a bounce house."

"Bullshit, there are totally parents on it."

"Maybe they're just tall and surprisingly mature looking children," Michael offered, looking towards the silhouetted figures on the bounce house.

"Is that not just us?"

"Fair point," Michael said, tightening where his elbow was linked with Luke's. "Let's go."

As it turned out, Michael had a lot of fun on the bounce house, primarily because Luke was a tad gangly and made for an easy target to push over. Not that Michael needed much help – Luke tripped and fell over his legs plenty of times on his own.

But regardless of the lack of room, the younger children who were up and bouncing far later than they should be, and the amount of effort required, Michael was having fun. When they finally tumbled off the bouncy house and put their shoes on, the carnival was fast approaching its close for the day.

"One more thing," Luke said, linking his cold hand with Michael's. "Your pick."

"The Ferris wheel."

"Oh, you sap," Luke muttered, nudging Michael's shoulder with his own.

"Oh, fuck off."

"Michael, you sure have taught the children a number of new words today."

"The children should all be asleep by now," Michael laughed, starting towards the Ferris wheel. "Which means it's past your bed time."

"Nope, nope, definitely going to be sappy on the Ferris wheel," Luke said, marching off in its direction.

The line for the Ferris wheel was practically nonexistent, so they snaked through the chains denoting where the line was supposed to be, laughing as they struggled to keep their hands linked. Up close, the Ferris wheel's lights created stars against the sky.

Luke slid in first, setting the bear on his lap, watching as Michael followed suit. The door closed behind them, and a few moments later the Ferris wheel started spinning around.

Luke's hand was warm in Michael's but the breeze was cool on his cheeks. Michael wouldn't have wished it to be any other way though. Everything seemed so perfect and in balance. The lights around the Ferris wheel were bright, the sky was black, and the distant city looked painted with gold from where they were. It looked like a scene from a movie.

When Michael leant over to kiss Luke, their cliché carnival date reached its climax, so filled with beauty. When they pulled away, Luke looked picturesque against the sky, cheeks flushed and eyes bright, filled with the gold of the city. Luke was beautiful.

All the love Michael had felt for Luke in the past – every cliché date and kiss – paled in comparison to how much he loved Luke atop the Ferris wheel. Lord only knew how much his love for Luke would grow with each passing day, and Michael figured loving Luke would be the most beautiful he'd ever do.

**Author's Note:**

> Right, so I've never been to a carnival... Also, please don't kidnap children
> 
> Come hang out on [tumblr](http://petalmikey.tumblr.com) where if you send in a prompt a blurb might end up here one day


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